New report - Ready or Not

One year on from the worst flooding in its history, Pakistan is still not prepared for this year’s monsoon floods and other natural disasters, international aid agency Oxfam warned today (Tuesday 26 July 2011).

In a new report, “Ready or Not: Pakistan’s resilience to disasters one year on from the floods”, the international agency said that millions of people were still struggling to recover from last year’s floods and would fall even deeper into poverty if hit by floods again. Reconstruction after last year’s floods is estimated to cost more than ten billion dollars, almost a quarter of the national budget; and further disasters will put an additional strain on the country’s economy.  

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Seventy per cent of those affected by floods in Pakistan want reconstruction to generate jobs as the country rebuilds following the disaster last year, according to a new survey released today (Wednesday, 6 April 2011) by international agency Oxfam.  The survey also found that 85 per cent saw increased poverty as one of the most serious problems facing the country in the aftermath of the floods.

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The crisis in Pakistan is far from over and could get worse, international aid agency Oxfam warned today, six months on from the nation’s devastating floods.

In a report, “Rescuing Pakistan’s Future” the agency warned that millions of people were still in dire need and that the situation could deteriorate further. The report says that although the aid effort has reached millions, it has struggled to match the immense scale of human need.

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Razia shows off her cheque from Oxfam. Photo: Jane Beesley/Oxfam

Yesterday’s Sunday Tribune featured a powerful story from Oxfam’s Jane Beesley, on Oxfam’s cash for work programmes in Pakistan.

International agency Oxfam today called on rich countries and institutions, meeting for the third time in as many months to discuss flood-ravaged Pakistan, to end the talking and start giving the substantial funds 1 needed to help save lives and start to rebuild the country.

Pakistan will host the Pakistan Development Forum from 14 – 15 November which brings together donor countries and international financial institutions to discuss rehabilitating communities hit by floods and support the reconstruction effort.

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Sakina Ghaincha and her baby Ghous. Photo: Caroline Gluck/Oxfam

The road heading towards Qaimjatoi, in Dadu district in Pakistan’s southern Sindh looked like it was literally disappearing into the river. A week ago, it was impassable; now, it was still surrounded by flooded rice fields, but most of the road had, at last, re-emerged from the waters.

All around us, rice fields and trees were submerged in water.

We were going to meet 18 year old Sakina Ghaincha, living with hundreds of other displaced families on a narrow ridge of an elevated embankment. The families are living here in makeshift wooden shelters, with straw mats hung over the top as a roof. Locally-made colourful hand-stitched patchwork cotton quilts, called rili, were strung along the sides of some shacks, affording families a little privacy and also some warmth when night-time temperatures drop.

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Farmland still under water; malnutrition and disease rates rise, seven million face winter without shelter

Three months after floods devastated Pakistan, cases of disease are increasing and in the worst-hit region, the southern province of Sindh, large areas remain underwater. At the same time, warned the international aid agency, Oxfam, funds for the UN flood appeal are drying up and threatening the aid and reconstruction effort. As winter approaches, seven million people are still without adequate shelter.

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